I had the honor and blessing of getting to illustrate this year’s children’s Christmas book that our church will give away during our annual Christmas Eve Candlelight service. What Christ Brings is the third of these books that I’ve had the opportunity to be part of and each experience has been so unique for me due to the season of life I’ve been in.
This Christmas at Council Road, we are releasing an original song to go along with our Advent season. The song, “What Christ Brings” was written to encourage our church and remind us of the beautiful blessings that Christ brings to us as we celebrate this special season. It is always such a gift to hear the songs that my husband, Eric Wall, dreams up for our church and this one is definitely no exception.
Last year, I had the privilege of contributing to an Advent devotional book called Advent: Preparing for the Arrival of the Savior. My contribution included Christmas and Advent hymns from church history, with a peek into the theology and history of the hymns. For our blog post today, I have included the introduction that I wrote for that devotional. I hope it encourages you in your own Advent studies this year. May the hymns you sing during Advent encourage and strengthen your faith as you worship the birth of our Savior!
The final verse of “Once and Again” refers to Jesus as “the Lamb of God.” Sheep are interesting creatures. In the wild of these Central Asian mountains I am looking out from right now, I see (and smell) herds upon herds of sheep of every shape and size. In this part of the world, one comical and notable feature of sheep is their distractingly large rumps consisting of pure fat. When they run into roads, traipse over busy train tracks, and foolishly trip along obviously dangerous mountain paths, their massive rumps and tiny brains tumble along.
For weeks, I have found myself humming or singing the new Advent song, “Once and Again.” Whether I am working at my computer, buying presents, running errands, wrapping gifts, hosting, or doing any of the myriad of things women do during the holidays, I find myself singing these lyrics. The biblical truths they proclaim has made them the melody line to my Christmas, reminding me over and again of the redemptive gifts of Advent: Jesus has come and He is coming again!
Theology and music. These two words make my heart sing. Is there any better song than one that is written with a biblically accurate text set to a beautiful tune? Douglas O’Donnell notes, “We are to sing to the Lord as he is revealed in Scripture. We are to sing of his name. We are to sing of his person. We are to sing of his works. We are to magnify him and him alone!” How blessed we are as a church to be able to sing “Once and Again” this Advent season, which allows us to sing about our trinitarian God as He is revealed in Scripture.
The advent season is upon us, and we know in our busy bones that this means we should pause to reflect – pause the shopping, pause the planning, just pause, and be with Jesus. If you’re anything like me, this can feel like being pulled in two directions. Being still in this whirlwind of a season can feel like mixing oil and water! I find this especially true as a public school music teacher – a typical December week looks like three school concerts, three to four rehearsals, and a personal gig or two. Everybody’s busy looks different! But no matter what your busy is, when you stop to consider the season, pressing pause in a full schedule is oil and water to the soul.
Advent is a special season. Through lighting candles, Advent calendars, Bible reading plans, nativity scenes and more, we celebrate Advent by reflecting on Christ’s birth and His second coming. Our savior came once, in the birth of Christ. And He will come again, in the second coming described in Revelation.
